


remember the name

by adalialives



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 08:54:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1934664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adalialives/pseuds/adalialives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>this is 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will. 5% pleasure, 50% pain, and 100% reason to remember the name.</p>
<p>hawkeye's heard it from every angle. he doesn't belong on the avengers. he's just an orphan raised by carnies, fighting with a string and a stick from the paleolithic era.</p>
<p>but the thing is, he's so much more than that, and he knows it, and his teammates know it, and some day everyone's going to remember the name clint barton. whether that's a good thing or not remains to be seen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	remember the name

**Author's Note:**

> this fic came to me in the shower. it's more of a prologue to get me going than anything else so that by the time we get age of ultron, i'll be ready to use that as a jumping point.

_My name is Clinton Francis Barton. Hell of a name. Kid like that, you know they're not gonna grow up normal, and not in the good way. That kid's never gonna be the guy girls buy posters of. He's gonna be the kind of guy who fights tooth and nail to get where he wants to be, because the world's gonna fight back when he tries. I mean, it already saddled him with the middle name "Francis." Don't get much worse than that - except when it does._

_Sometimes, I'll be on the library computer, and I'll Google myself, just to see what comes up. The other day, I seen some stuff on a forum, where they were talking about whether or not I actually have a superpower, and I don't know what the hell they put in the water these days that a handful of kids on the internet know more about me than my own teammates._

_Here's the thing - I can see. Like, I can see real well. They did some tests, said I got some kind of extra cells or something like that in my eyes. I don't know. When people start talking science to me, I check out of the conversation. Never finished high school, never got my GED. All I know is half the time I don't even need a scope to make shots that other people couldn't make with the best scope money can buy. But it's not a superpower. It's not like I can see through walls, or into people's heads. I don't have the X gene. Nobody knows where it came from, and I'm tired of going in for tests to find out. It is what it is, but it's not a superpower._

_Some other people thought it was how I notice everything around me, but any kid who's had to tell the doctors he fell down the stairs more times than he can count can keep an eye on a threat. That's just survival instinct, and everyone's got it. Some kids just end up so screwed up that that survival instinct never gets turned off. Stairs squeak - you can bet that somewhere, some middle-aged dude is sitting bolt upright in bed, waiting, just waiting for that fucker to come through the door and get nailed with the gun he keeps in the drawer. So that's not a superpower either._

_My bow's got a real heavy draw. Some of them thought it was super strength, but hell, I'm pretty sure if Rogers ever drew my bow as far back as he could, he could snap the thing. I'm stronger than most people, but I had to work up to that. When I was a scrawny kid in the circus, I was shooting a 40 lb. draw recurve. That's nothing. It took me a long time to get up to where I am now, and anyone could do it. Still not a superpower._

_Some joker suggested maybe my superpower was screwing up royally, and I almost want to agree with that, but if it is my superpower, I want the receipt. Five people go into a battle against alien invaders, only one of 'em comes out with so many broken bones he's laid up in the hospital for months. Natasha and I had the same training at SHIELD, and she's been doing this a lot longer, but you ever seen her up close? She's a tiny thing. Looks as fragile as a baby bird, and I know damn well she's not, but she came out of that mess with a couple of cuts and bruises and some sprained joints. Didn't break anything._

_I dated her once. More than once. Probably going to date her again, honestly. We can't ever seem to stay broken up. I'd have tried to rob Tony Stark blind for her once upon a time. And I sure as hell did try, but maybe that's less her intelligence and my stupidity. Let's start that over. She once lied Loki the goddamn Lie-Smith into giving up his plans. If that ain't talent, I don't know what is. And then there was Bobbi. Beautiful, brilliant Bobbi. Got me to marry her and everything, but I still couldn't keep my shit together enough for her to want to keep me around. She was a scientist, and boy could she fight. I barely had time to blink before she had me pinned to the ground and believing everything she said about how I was working for the wrong side. She was right, at least. There was that._

_Let's not talk about Jessica just yet. I screwed that up big time. Girl drives into my life with a great car and more baggage than me, and I end up in bed with her every time, sure as any one of my shots. I don't think Jess'll ever forgive me for that. I wouldn't blame her._

_But I still don't think screwing up is my superpower._

_Here's the thing. I got dealt a crappy hand. I screw up all the time. I don't know how to ask for help. I don't have parents, and every day it feels like I have fewer friends. I get myself into stupid situations, and someone always has to come bail my sorry ass out of them. But every time, I get back up. During the Battle of New York, I stood up with three cracked ribs, a broken pelvis, and a bunch of other broken crap and I kept taking the shots. My dad, he beat me black and blue and I would still get up and limp my way between him and my mother. Standing up sounds like the dumbest superpower ever, don't it? Everyone can do it._

_But not everyone does._

_And that's what makes me different. I get back up, and I keep taking those shots, no matter how broken down I get. I never give up. Sometimes, all I had left was a bow and a sense of justice, and maybe, just maybe, that's all it takes to be a superhero._


End file.
